Red Hot Chili Peppers to Record in October

Drummer Chad Smith says the band might reconnect to produce the follow-up to 2006's Stadium Arcadium.

After nearly two years apart, the Red Hot Chili Peppers will be regrouping to record new material. Drummer Chad Smith told Billboard that the band should be reconnecting sometime in October to begin working together for the first time since touring for Stadium Arcadium wound down.

“Everybody was like, ‘Y’know, I really like having this time off, not being a Chili Pepper and doing other things,” Smith said. “You can’t force people to play when they don’t want to play or aren’t ready to play or whatever — not in our band, anyway.”

Smith said the quartet has yet to discuss any specifics for the record, including who might produce it and when it might come out.

In the interim, Smith is touring with Chickenfoot, a new quartet that includes ex-Van Halen dudes Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony, and guitar virtuoso Joe Satriani. The band’s North American tour kicked off Sunday night in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and cruises around the country through late September.

Smith is also busy with another project, an instrumental funk rock outfit called Chad Smith’s Bombastic Meatbats. Their debut album, Meet the Meatbats, is out Sept. 15, and they’ve got a Japanese tour planned for October. Diehard Meatbats fans — and we know there are tons — can purchase various album pre-order packages via the band’s official website, including a “Triple Diamond” package that includes a chance “to meet the Bats for an evening meal of Hunter House Hamburgers, a tour of Detroit” and costs $12,000 — airfare and hotel not included.

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